May I interrupt this broadcast...

Sorry for the delay in blogging. I'm really back - just trying to recover from taking care of my grandfather while he was in the hospital. *I* thought he'd be one and done - and then I'd be back here. But life doesn't work the way you plan it out - and he's now got terminal cancer. I'll be helping him a bit more - but now that he's home, I can spend more time doing the crafty things that I want to do. Or productive...like maybe clean my house out.

Pictures to follow.

Looking for a gift to give your teacher? I love this idea from Skip To My Lou. I'm preparing some for my kids teachers and hope they like this addition to their presents!! :)

Button, Button, Who's Got The...

Button. The bane of any non-sewer's existence. But there is hope for all of you who would rather try it yourself rather than call me up and ask me to sew it back on!

Check out the Chicago Tribune's tutorial on How To Sew On A Button. And then try it yourself!

Hands Hands Fingers Thumb

I do it with both hands. My husband? He only uses two fingers and a thumb from each hand. Wait? Are we talking about the same thing? I'm talking about typing! :)

I think it's such an important skill to teach your children - especially since most of them will use typing more than anything else they do.

My oldest daughter, Carley, is 7 and she's learning typing in school and came home to tell me about this site. Super fun for kids - and adults.

Try it out and let me know if your little ones are learning how to type!

Web pages to PDF

I find lots of tutorials online that I love. Sometimes though, printing them out just don't look right. I mean, most web pages have all these extra things that make it difficult for a printer to fit it all on one page (width wise).

That's where the cool website Web2PDFConvert comes into play. I love this site for two reasons. One - it's free. You can never beat free. And two - I get to convert any page I want to a PDF to be saved to either print - or put on my computer for later.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Boys Tie Shirt

Coming up with ideas for boys has been much harder than I had anticipated. Nothing with ruffles or fringes or ribbons. But I've seen quite a few tutorials for iron on ties that I've always found quite cute. I made one this year for my son, Luke, age 17 months. He LOVED it :)

Char over at Crap I've Made has some cute ideas...and a wonderful tutorial for making this cute shirt. Note that I did not sew this tie - just ironed it on. Sewing does make it a bit more permanent - but if you don't have access to a sewing machine, you can still do this tie!!!

Survival Skill #325: Medication

I'm an RN. And I love my job so much. I get to help people make their lives healthier - definitely rewarding.

I do a lot of education in my work - having people understand what their medication does - how it works and what they should do with their medication (beyond actually taking it).

And since this is my blog - I'm going to jump on my soapbox and talk a little about medication today. And hope that you take the time to enact some of these pointers!

1) Antibiotics do not help colds or viruses. Asking your doctor for them will not help you feel better unless you actually have an infection. Antibiotics also need to be taken AS DIRECTED. Which means if they say take it for X days - don't stop because you feel better. You're just asking for the infection to come back if you stop. Also - consider taking probiotics if you are on antibiotics. Many of the hospitals are doing this now to avoid the wonderful side effect of diarrhea!

2) Expired medications should be tossed. Spend the time today to go through your medications and toss the expired ones. Do NOT flush them down the toilet as you are adding those medications into the water supply. Controlled substances should be dropped off at your local police department for disposal. Prescription medication bottles should have your label removed and shredded before you toss the bottle.

Just because the medication is still in the bottle and doesn't 'smell' does not mean that the medication works after the expiration date. This is a perfect time for you to do this as it's the end of the year for your Health Savings Account - even over the counter (OTC) medications can be reimbursed through the end of this year. Next year - this is no longer an option.

3) Take your prescription medications as directed. As my father's doctor had to explain to him (even though I've told him this many times) you do need to take it as directed for it to work. Which means taking it daily if that is your direction! Don't try to double up on a dose because you've missed it unless the bottle says this is okay. You might actually be making yourself sick!!

4) Try to avoid prescription shopping. Having all of your medication through one pharmacy has two benefits - always knowing where your prescriptions are and having any interactions watched by your pharmacist. I've actually lost a friend to an unintended medication interaction. Don't let this be you.

5) If you are on medications or supplements (vitamins, herbal supplements) - have a list with you at all times. This will help if you are at the doctor - or have to go to the hospital. Also note any allergies you may have to medications. Include food allergies or environmental allergies on this list.

And lastly, 6) Do not share prescription medications with others. Remember that your doctor writes a prescription for a certain amount because that's how many you need. If you give them to others - you won't have them for yourself. But also, giving them to others may harm them. You don't know what they are taking and what will interact with their medications.

As with anything, please check with your prescriber if you have any questions on your medications!

Calendar Fabric

I remember about two years ago when a new company - Spoonflower - was beta testing their process. I thought about doing it - but I had no experience with graphic arts and decided not to join the beta. Now I kind of regret not figuring something out to try as I happened upon them again through Noodlehead's post on purchasing fabric from them...

I heart this calendar fabric and have been trying to figure out how I could use this for my daughters' teachers. Frame it? Make it into a tea towel?? What would you do with it???

Online Photo Editing - For FREE!

Because my brain does not work well, I have lost the link to the person who first introduced me to this topic - I apologize for not giving credit. :(

I have an apple computer - which I love - but I spent from 1984 until August 2010 using Windows. Unfortunately, Windows does not come with a good photo editing tool and spending big bucks for an Adobe version just never was on my priority list. But, like many people, my pictures are not as great as I'd like them to be.

That's where Picnik.com comes in. It's a free photo editing tool ( and you can upgrade to a premium version) that comes in handy when you're trying to do basic stuff - and fun stuff.

Here's a picture that I took during Thanksgiving:

And here is one that I fixed using Picnik.com - cute isn't it??

Have fun trying it out and let me know what you think!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

While pumpkin is usually associated with Halloween and Thanksgiving - I firmly believe that tasty pumpkin treats are good for any gotta-keep-warm day! Dana from MADE borrowed this recipe from Kristen. I have a mini crush on Dana - she's got such great ideas (you'll see many of them in the future) and beautiful pictures.

The recipe is amazing. I love how the chocolate makes it not too pumpkiny. The cookie recipe does not require dairy for those who are avoiding it (that is, if you leave the cream cheese frosting off!). For those, like us, who are Gluten Free* - it can also be made gluten free by substituting with gluten-free flour!!

Try it out and let me know what you think!!

*For those who do not know me, my husband has Celiac Disease and my oldest daughter is Gluten Intolerant - so lots of the recipes that I use are Gluten Free - however, I do make Gluten recipes - and most of the time - both are equally yummy.

Handmade Holidays

This year, I'm challenging myself to make everything I give for the holidays to be handmade. While it's becoming difficult to come up with ideas on my own - there is a great blog out there that dedicates the entire month of November to helping me out. Just me. And you too :)

Handmade Holidays by Sew Mama Sew gives you new ideas every day. Since this is being posted AFTER they are done - you can cruise through the entire month and get all the ideas at once. Some are knitting, some sewing - some are easy enough for a child to make (there for my friend who has survival issues should be completely fine! ~giggle~). They even have links to a new recipe, a new crafter and beautiful fabric. Check it out and let me know if you make anything!!!

Tutorial: Ponytail Covers

I have been trying to come up with little gifts to give to some co-workers that I love to work with. Unfortunately, my budget is tight when it comes to the 20+ women that I work with. So using the wonderful internet, I found an idea similar to what I'm about to show you. I wish I could remember exactly where I found it - but alas, that link is gone. :( If it's you who came up with this idea, please let me know so I can credit you!

No-Sew Ponytail Covers

If you are new to patterns, please read through the entire pattern before you try it - that way you know what you're supposed to end up with!!!

You'll need the following:

Button Cover Kit*

Button Covers* - make sure you purchase the ones WITH wire loops on them - not flat backs.

Scissors

Extra Fabric **

Ponytail Holder/Rubber bands***

About 5 minutes - tops!!!

*Both of these can be found at your local fabric store - or see one of my favorite online stores -www.craftersvision.com - you will have to purchase the same size kit as the button covers for it to work. I'm using 1 1/2" button covers in this tutorial.

**If you do not have 'extra fabric' or 'scrap fabric' because you do not have 'fabric' in general, you can always go to your local fabric store and purchase what you like. Each cover will only require a small amount of fabric - so fat quarters are plenty. If you live local to me - feel free to tell me your needs and I will give you some - I have plenty! ALSO an idea - find an old t-shirt or dress shirt that you like the pattern of and use it!!

***I like the Goody Ouchless because they are thin enough to go through the button cover loop.

Now grab the white part of the button cover kit and your fabric - you're ready to go! Put the fabric pattern side DOWN on top of the white part of the button cover kit, making sure that there is some overlap with the fabric.

Now put the button cover down into the white part. You can see the overlap of the fabric over the white part.

Now cut around the white part, leaving enough overlap.

This is what it should look like when you're done cutting.

Now push the fabric into the middle, trying to make sure that there's not too much fabric in the middle. If you need to - cut some more of it out - but not too much. Remember you'll be putting the back on soon and something needs to be under it for the fabric not to come off the button cover!!

Now grab the button cover - with the wire loop facing up and put on top of the button cover - but don't push down all the way yet!

Grab the blue part of the kit and push the back cover on to the front of the cover. If you need to - put it on a hard surface - like a table - and push down on the blue part. Sometimes you 'feel' a click. You'll understand when you try it.

It'll look like this when you're done. Notice how you can see the fabric all around the back cover? This means you did it right. If you can't see fabric all the way around, chances are you need to go back to the previous step and push a bit harder.

Now you can just pop the button cover out - it'll look like this - fabric nice and tight over the cover.

Now flip it over and notice the wire loop. See it??

Grab your rubber band and squeeze it through the loop like below. This is why it's good to have thin rubber bands.

Now you're going to pull the rubber band half way through - and then put one half of the rubber band through the other half, like this.

Now pull that rubber band tight so it looks like the picture below.

Now you're done. That's it. Easy wasn't it?

Put the rubber band on the hair - and you've got a pretty styling accessory!!

Welcome!

A friend of mine, after a much needed beer, was joking about her ability to run a girl scout troop for 7 year olds. She told the group that her and her husband were not survivalists...that they would end up running after ME if something happened that required humans to go back to growing their own food, making their own clothes, etc.

I laughed along with the group at the time - but I thought about that comment. How many people out there believe that they can't do something crafty? How many believe that sewing is actually HARD, laboring work? How many believe that making a dinner or dessert from scratch is beyond their capabilities??

It's not. Really. I do it and I have no real skills with this stuff - just finding a little time and planning ahead and EVERYONE can do what I do.

So join me on my journey through life. Learn how to do something craft, sew up something or even make a dinner from scratch in less time than it takes to order pizza and wait for it to be delivered. And have some fun.

Welcome to I Know Toni :)